Legionnaire
Legionnaire is the generic term for any member of the FFEL, with no regard for their station within the command hierarchy. It is, however, also the title of the lowest enlisted rank within the organization. The Legionnaires themselves fight in maniples, of which there are hundreds, tying together dozens of millions of fighting men and women. Recruitment and Training All Legionnaires are recruited from Earth, where the teeming masses of otherwise untalented individuals can be exploited in mass conscription drives. Each maniple is specialized for a specific world or type of world, and each recruit destined to join that maniple thus receives combat training in the closest possible environment to his area of deployment. Mars, Venus, and various asteroids have all provided the environs suitable to make training fields. The soldiers will have to drill in this environment and live in it for years on end in order to ensure that they are fully acclimatized. Becoming a legionnaire is a path most seek to avoid, but it is very difficult. The "untalented" populations of Earth only have three choices: try prove their worth through academic and intellectual pursuits (this often may not guarantee avoiding the draft), become a generic colonist, or join the Legion. Most people, if given the choice, rush for the colony ships - if they're destined to be going to the fringe of civilization anyway, they may as well avoid combat (this is not always true however). Others prefer the guaranteed food and board of military service, as well as the somewhat more exciting (if only because it is more dangerous) lifestyle, and some indeed enlist in the Legion of their own will. Regardless of the decisions which lead to a person becoming a Legionnaire, it is unlikely, if not impossible, that they will ever return to Earth again. Many tours of duty are permanent - though legionnaires have been known to retire once reaching seniority, or may be let go after a number of years in service or for distinguished service in a particular campaign or operation. Role and Organization The public's stereotypical picture of a Legionnaire is that of a Beamer-toting, trigger-happy grunt. While for most legionnaires this may be the truth, (and it makes for the legion having a poor reputation among the citizenry), it is an unfair stereotype. Many legionnaires are skilled machinists who maintain advanced vehicles, the highly-trained specialist crewmen who pilot those vehicles, the scientists and engineers working on designs for new vehicles, and so on. Others still are hardened veterans of many conflicts, operators of advanced equipment such as missile launchers and electronics. Medically-trained personnel also find a promising career path within the Legion. Female Legionnaires Women are just as often considered for conscription, and as a result just as often may find themselves as part of a maniple. However, fewer women make the cut when it comes to physical standards. This is especially true of maniples destined to fight on high-gravity planets, where strength and stamina are even greater advantages afforded to men. Nonetheless, about a third of all the legionnaires in active frontline combat service are female.